Foundations
by Rachel975
Summary: (MOCKINGJAY PART 2 SPOILERS!) After their rebellion is over, Haymitch is struggling to adjust to a life back in District 12 without Effie. He convinces himself that he's coping, until one night she calls and he might have to start admitting that he misses her. Hayffie post-Mockingjay.
1. Chapter 1

Haymitch hadn't heard from her for a month when she called.

A month of pretending he wasn't worried about where she was or what she was doing. She was in the Capitol somewhere which was where she belonged. More importantly it was where she wanted to be. The idea of her being in District 12 for anything more than half a day was laughable to both of them.

And yet he still wished she was there.

His phone rang so loudly that it made him leap out of his chair. Katniss and Peeta were the only ones who ever needed to speak to him and they lived close enough to shout out the window if they needed him – not that they ever did that. Peeta came round and knocked politely on the door and Katniss had taken to letting herself in after a week or so because she was tired of him pretending not to be home because he couldn't be bothered to talk to them.

Tentatively he answered the phone with an unusually quiet greeting. He heard a muffled giggle on the other end.

"Katniss?" He knew from the overly prim Capitol accent that it was Effie and for a moment he was genuinely pleased to hear from her until it clicked that her calling had clearly been an accident.

"No this is Haymitch." he sighed into the phone.

"Haymitch!" she exclaimed excitedly, and only then did he realised that the Queen of Manners was completely wasted on the other end of the line. He covered his mouth to keep from laughing. How the tables had turned. "I wanted to speak to Katniss. Your numbers are too similar. You should change yours. Is that something you can do? I needed to ask her a question, but I'll talk to you instead." He sighed deliberately loudly, feeling like he had to at least pretend he didn't want to hear from her. She ignored him. "I'm at this wonderful party tonight and I'm having such a lovely time! You'd hate it, there are lots of people and everyone is so nice. I can't remember what I needed to ask Katniss. Do you remember?"

"Eff, are you drunk?" Haymitch already knew the answer. He just knew that her confronting the accusation would amuse him.

"Of course not!" Effie shrieked, so loudly that he winced away from the phone. "That doesn't sound like something I would do, that sounds much more like you. Unless you're miraculously still sober." He wasn't offended by the assumption that he was drinking again. The more she spoke the most he felt the knot that had been building in his stomach for the last month unravelling. She was okay, more than okay if this call was anything to go by.

"Not sober, but drinking less than I used to." He had wanted to lie and tell her he was still sober, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. She'd likely be excited anyway.

"Oh Haymitch! That's so, so good! Really, so good. Maybe you'll try being sober properly again soon, you were much nicer then." They were both quiet. He couldn't disagree with her. "But you would hate this party so much. You'd be so bored. Even I'm bored." He assumed that was the reason she was so drunk now.

"I'm sure I would be." he agreed with her. She was quiet on the other end and for a moment he thought she had hung up and the knot in his stomach reformed. Then he heard her pouring liquid and realised she was ignoring him in favour of getting another drink.

"So how are you?" Effie was making a conscious effort to sound sober now. They had attended many events together over the years – Effie went by choice while he as a past victor of The Games had been obligated. He had never once seen her drink anything other than water. Maybe a flute of champagne once or twice. He had certainly never seen her drunk and he felt a pang of regret that he'd never seen this side of her in person.

"Definitely less drunk that you are now." he responded without being able to stop himself. Effie huffed on the other end of the line and he could just picture her standing in some ridiculous dress smoothing her hands over it like she always did when she was offended by a comment. "No, I'm great. I have some geese now. And a goat." Effie immediately laughed hysterically at that.

"There was nothing better for you to do in 12 than farming?" Effie asked him between bouts of laughter. He almost smiled. If he was amusing her then she would keep speaking to him.

"It's not farming."

"It sounds a lot like farming."

"Okay, it's a bit like farming." That set her off again. "I like my geese!" he protested.

"You should just get some cows and pigs and plant some crops and accept that you are now a farmer." That sounded like quite a bit more effort than he was currently making."Better than just being an alcoholic." Effie didn't disagree with that. "How are you?"

"Well I'm not a farmer." Haymitch groaned in irritation and she laughed pleasantly. "I've actually been very busy, I decided I wanted to be a stylist after that horrible thing I was made to wear in 13. They're talking about giving me my own program where I go around the districts and help people dress nicely. It's so much fun!"

"That doesn't sound very important." Haymitch said honestly.

"Neither does raising geese." Effie bit back, though he could tell she was amused. Her voice was quieter when she spoke again. "We do what we can to distract ourselves. And I was hardly going to be good at something important."

"You might have been."

"They wanted me to help prepare the last Hunger Games." Haymitch heard her taking another very long drink and in that moment he felt guilty for agreeing to the proposal. "I understand why it needs to happen. Or I think I do at least. But I can't be a part of that – not again." Effie sounded so quiet – all he wanted was to be there and put an arm around her. "Are you coming here for them?" She sounded almost hopeful about it.

"Maybe." That was a lie. He had already said to everyone that he wouldn't mentor again.

"I wish you would." It was the closest to an admission of affection that Effie had ever given him. He wondered then if he could reverse his decision, say he was going after all. Then again, if he did they might try to make him get sober again.

"You could come and visit me." He couldn't stop himself from suggesting it. She might have been waiting for an invitation.

"I'll see about it once the trains are running again." He knew that meant she wasn't coming. She'd arrange an exact date if she was, that was just the kind of person she was. He wanted to ask her why she wouldn't come, but he was afraid that she would say it was something to do with him, and he couldn't deal with the guilt this late at night.

He heard someone on the other end of the phone shouting for Effie and he knew this time that the panic he felt was warranted, she was going to say goodbye and get back to her party and never call again. He drained the glass that had sat beside him untouched for the duration of their conversation and with a shaking hand poured another drink out, ready to down it the second their call ended.

"Oh that's Caelia. She's the one who wants to give me a show. I should probably go." He thought he detected some reluctance towards that in her voice, but he might have just been imagining it, searching for something that indicated she missed him as much as he missed her.

"Yeah, go. Have a good night, Eff."

"You too." They both knew he wouldn't. He was alone and drinking and the one good thing that had happened to him in the last month was about to end. He expected her to cut off the call but she hesitated for a moment. "I do miss you, you know." He was just going to tell her he knew but he couldn't stop the words that tumbled out of his mouth.

"I miss you too. So much." Effie sighed sounding incredibly relieved to hear that. "At least we had a nice final goodbye, right?" he teased her. He could sense her rolling her eyes.

"Final goodbye. How ridiculous. Of course I'm going to see you again…" Effie trailed off and for a minute he thought she might be about to say something sweet that he would have to berate. He misjudged her. "I'll be at your funeral in a year or so after your geese eat you." Haymitch laughed loudly.

"Okay, you're definitely drunk because we both know you don't know how to make jokes." He could tell she was getting poised to respond and disagree but she didn't in favour of making a pleased little 'oh' sound.

"I just remembered what I needed to ask Katniss!"

"Bye Effie."

"Bye Haymitch."

He let her hang up the phone because he couldn't bear to do it until he was completely sure the line was silent. The second he put the phone back he picked up his drink and poured it all down his throat in one go. Deciding to go to bed he looked out of his window and saw Katniss standing by her phone in her house across the street. She looked an interesting mixture of exasperated and amused and Haymitch smiled to himself before he flicked the lights off in the room and headed upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

Trains ran between District 12 and the Capitol by request, just like they ran everywhere else from 12.

There weren't enough people living in 12 to warrant a regular service. When Haymitch had let his irritation with this be known Katniss and Peeta had been polite enough to pretend they didn't know why he was annoyed. Because while he could travel to the Capitol he wouldn't because nowadays he barely left his house, and while Effie could come and see him she would never request a train. She was glamourous and indulgent but she was never one to inconvenience other people. That was the height of poor manners.

Still, Haymitch knew the intricacies of how you went about it. They were engraved into his brain. Ordered trains would leave District 12 on a Friday and arrive on a Monday. The other way around, trains left the Capitol on a Tuesday and arrived on a Thursday. It annoyed him that it would take longer for him to go to her than it would for her to come to him. As far as he knew they used the same tracks. Why would it take longer?

He'd ranted about it to Katniss once when he was too drunk to care what he said. She hadn't asked why it bothered him and he was grateful for that.

One time he had got so far as to call the department in District 2 which arranged the trains. He'd been drunk and watching her ridiculous, vapid show on his old television set. He'd made his way through five glasses of whiskey in the first half an hour of it. She was acting so much like she did before the rebellion that it scared him. He needed to go and check that she was still as haunted by it as he was and he didn't care that it was a selfish reason. He could barely breathe watching her. That wasn't the woman he cared about, hell, it was barely one he liked. So he'd called and then while he was waiting to be transferred he caught the look she wore when she thought the camera wasn't on her, and it reminded him so much of when he accidentally caught his own eye in the mirror that he'd hung up.

If he went he knew he'd never be able to bear to come back.

He never attempted to watch her show again. Peeta spoke very highly of it and apparently watched it quite often. Katniss had just said 'it's very Effie' and Haymitch had understood exactly what she meant.

Two years passed much slower than he wanted them to before he heard from her again.

This time she called in the morning and woke him. He ignored the phone the first two times it rang and then dragged himself out of bed to answer it, planning to tell whoever was on the other end to leave him and his hangover in peace.

"Have you heard the news?" Effie's shrill voice demanded on the other end of the line.

"Hello Effie, so lovely to hear from you. I'm doing very well thank you apart from being disturbed so early."

"Oh for goodness sake, since when have you cared about greetings?" she snapped. His eyebrows raised. "Answer my question Haymitch!" She sounded borderline hysterical which would have amused him if he wasn't so tired. He couldn't even be pleased to hear from her, it was too damn early. He cursed himself for drinking so much the night before.

"No but from your tone of voice I'm assuming someone's died." After he said it he hoped they hadn't because then he'd feel bad for teasing her.

"Katniss and Peeta are getting married!" Effie wailed, and he honestly couldn't tell whether she was excited or horrified by the idea. She was too frantic to be able to covey tone properly.

It was definitely too early for news like that anyway. Her shrieking was making his head pound and he was genuinely a little put out that Katniss or Peeta had decided to tell Effie before him. He lived directly across from him, it wouldn't have been that hard. Then again, they probably wanted Effie to organise it for them so telling her was a good idea. He was about to reply when he was halted by a thought. Whether they held the wedding in 12 or somewhere else, both he and Effie would be in attendance.

He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face and he hoped she didn't hear it in his voice.

"I did not know that." Haymitch admitted to her. She was probably happy that she knew the gossip before he did, she liked to be the first one to know news. "Are you happy or sad about it?" He felt the need to ask because there was always a chance that she was upset and not just over-excited.

"Stressed! Very, very stressed Haymitch!" Effie near screamed. "They want me to plan the whole thing. 'A small wedding' Katniss said! Have you ever heard something so ridiculous? A small wedding!" That time she did scream and he held the phone away from his ear in case there was more. When he was sure that there wasn't, he put the receiver back up to his ear.

"Surely you shouldn't be that stressed if she only wants a small wedding." She ignored him completely and continued to ramble something he didn't listen to on the other end and he cut in again when she stopped to breathe. "Not everyone's as extravagant as you, Eff."

"But it's a wedding!"

That didn't mean very much to him. Weddings in 12 were always small events, only close family and friends invited. The ceremony was small and short and the meal afterwards was meagre, even if it was a wedding it was still District 12 and people couldn't afford more. Haymitch expected that the weddings she had attended in the Capitol were much larger, fancier, and more worthy of her supposed expertise in planning them.

"At least you won't have too much planning to do. I wouldn't have thought you'd have time to plan a big event with your show and all that." Effie hummed thoughtfully. Katniss owed him for distracting Effie with her own life so she didn't go off the rails and plan a large wedding anyway.

"That's very true, it is keeping me very busy. Have you been watching it? Peeta said he would make sure you were."

"Every episode." He had always been a skilful liar. "You're amazing." he assured her. He could almost hear her smiling at that. He hated how much he liked making her happy. Fuck, if he was seeing her for the wedding he'd have to watch the show, she was definitely going to probe him for details about what parts he liked best and

"Well, I try my best! Did you see the episode Annie was in when I went to District 4? I was styling a cousin of hers and I thought it would be nice to have some input. She was so pleased when I asked her, I thought it might be difficult to persuade her!" Haymitch felt some odd kind of relief that Effie still talked as much as she used to. He wasn't sure he could bear her having changed so much that she actually knew when to shut up. "I spend a few weeks there with her and her son – though I didn't stay with them, I stayed in the loveliest hotel overlooking the sea, even you would have liked the view from my window. Where was I? Oh yes - he's the most delightful baby, even you'd like him." He knew what Effie meant was that even she had liked him – she had never been fond of children and expressed this a number of times. It was high praise indeed that she had liked this child.

"I never realised you and Annie were close."

"Well we weren't really but I planned her wedding and I suppose we are now; she came and stayed with me in the Capitol for a while too. I think she likes having other people around her, she still misses Finnick terribly." Haymitch wasn't at all surprised by that. He felt almost proud of Effie that she was being so kind to Annie, although Effie had never been unkind really. Just self-involved. He also felt a little pang of sadness that she had travelled and seen other people and he hadn't even been graced with a phone call in two years. He didn't let on to her that he was upset about it, he didn't want to hear her apologise.

"Yeah, poor girl. Will she come for Katniss and Peeta?"

"Gracious, I haven't even asked her yet!" Haymitch regretted saying anything now that she was yelling again in her irritatingly polite way. "I suppose she will, even with her terrible small wedding idea Katniss will surely want to invite all her friends?"

"Yeah, of course she will. You still invite people to a small wedding, you just leave out the invitations for people you don't know very well." Haymitch shook his head. "Is she having it here?"

"I expect so, don't you? I doubt that she'll want to come to the Capitol for any reason and I don't think there's anywhere else she'd like to have it. I'll have to talk to her more. Really I just received the call from her this morning and shrieked something unintelligible down the phone and then before I knew it I was ringing you." He laughed at the mental image he had of her shrieking at a phone before he felt a large pang of pride in his chest. She'd told him first. He was the one she wanted to talk to about this.

"Why?" He regretted asking as soon as he did. Effie was silent for a moment.

"I don't know really. It's not the kind of thing you get excited about, is it?" Her voice was quiet now and he felt responsible for it.

"No, no, Eff, I'm glad you told me. This is exciting news." He was really trying to sound enthusiastic despite his painful head.

"Yes it is!" Effie sounded much more her normal self now. He hadn't caused any permanent upset thank goodness, but she was a strong person, and very little phased her for more than a few minutes. It was one of her best qualities among many irritating ones. Not that he really minded the irritating ones either now, they made him laugh. "She wants the wedding so soon though – two months or less she said… You're right for once. It probably is best that she wants something small."

"For once? I'm always right, Eff, you know that."

"No you are not!" Effie protested indignantly. "In fact this is the only occasion I've ever known you to be right and you may be proved wrong yet if this wedding is completely horrible." He knew that wouldn't happen because as much as she might like to prove him wrong she also wanted to give Katniss a good wedding day, because she cared about her just as much as Haymitch did.

"I feel like our child is getting married." Haymitch said softly. Effie laughed.

"I know what you mean. How opposed do you think she would be to having us walk her down the aisle?" Once again what she said conjured up an amusing mental picture for him and he covered his mouth with his hand. He heard Effie giggle quietly. Apparently she could make jokes while she was sober. It was an odd thing to discover.

"I think we'd have to drag her down but I'm sure between the two of us we could manage that."

"Hmm, I'm not sure. We might rip her dress by accident. Possibly best to let her make her own way down and save a wardrobe malfunction."

"I think you've got your expectations too high for this, Eff. I mean the fact you even think you're going to get that girl into a dress again is pure delusion." Effie cackled in a very unladylike way and it was enough to set him into hysterics too.

"Oh well, as long as Katniss likes it I suppose." Effie said a little dejectedly once she had stopped laughing. It was the closest to a selfless thing that he had ever heard her say.

"She'll be happy whatever you do. She'll just be pleased to see you." Translation: Haymitch would be pleased to see her, more than he could ever put into words, especially over the phone.

"That's nice. I'll be pleased to see them too. And you of course." It didn't sound like an afterthought, it sounded like something that she had almost thought the better of saying. He wanted to say it back but he couldn't bring himself to.

"Hmm, I could go another couple of years. My eyes are still adjusting back from whatever the last monstrosity you wore looked like." Effie sighed loudly and he grinned. Annoying her was a sport, and he was glad that he hadn't forgotten how to play it well. When she came for the wedding she would likely make the same sighing sound a few hundred times in a day.

"I see being home has done nothing to improve your manners. Such a shame."

"Yes, I'm quite heartbroken about that myself."

"You really are nightmarish sometimes."

"Same to you, Eff." He knew she was smiling because he was. They were childish and ridiculous, something he embraced and she refused to admit, and he liked them that way.

"I should probably ring Katniss back. I didn't mean to talk to you for so long. I got a little distracted."

"Yeah, go ahead. Good luck with the planning."

"I'll see you soon, I suppose. I'm rather looking forward to it. Don't say you aren't, I know you're not, just say 'goodbye Effie, it was nice to speak to you' and hang up please."

"Goodbye Effie, it was nice to speak to you." She was definitely beaming on the other end of the phone. "And, for what it's worth, I am looking forward to seeing you." He hung up before she could say something to make him regret saying that.

It felt too late to return to bed but he found himself doing it anyway. As he padded up the stairs his stomach flipped as he came to the realisation that Effie coming here also meant Effie leaving. The thought made him grip the bannister his head was spinning so fast. He made his way slowly back to the bedroom wondering if he should just admit how far gone he was and go back to the Capitol with her. It seemed like a problem he should deal with later in the day when he was a little more drunk.


	3. Chapter 3

_For what it's worth, I am looking forward to seeing you._

Effie had replayed those words over in her head constantly over the last few days, feeling an odd mixture of giddy and ill every time she did. It had been on a constant loop since she put her telephone back on the wall, replaying their entire conversation excitedly in her head before fixating on the last thing he had said to her.

Because to Effie it was worth a lot that he was excited to see her.

So she had called up her producer and made them push her filming dates forward. She only had two left to film of her series and both the last episodes were thankfully being made in the Capitol. In all it took three days, a relievingly short amount of time. She swore to herself that her reason for tying up loose ends there so quickly was so that she could get to planning Katniss's wedding sooner rather than later but she knew in her heart it wasn't really that.

In all her flustered busyness she had forgotten to tell Annie about the wedding but luckily when she called up Annie informed her that the bride and groom to be had already been in touch.

"As far as I know they've only invited the pair of us, Johanna, and Haymitch. Oh, and her mother of course." Annie told her. "It's not going to be like planning mine, that's for sure so you really don't need to worry." Effie was worried but she always made an effort to be calm when she spoke to Annie. Since the rebellion she was far less fragile which Effie suspected was because she had her son to occupy her time, but all she had suffered through was still close to her, and without Finnick around it was far harder for her to come back from that dark mental space she fell into sometimes.

"I'm not. I could potentially go up there now, all my obligations here are sorted out…" Effie said nonchalantly, as though the idea had popped into her head just that second rather than having been dancing around there since she spoke to Haymitch.

"Katniss would appreciate that, I think." Annie mused. Effie smiled to herself although admittedly it was not Katniss's reaction that she cared about. "I might come up a week or so before too, I'd like to spend some time with all of you."

"I'm sure they'd be delighted to see you." Effie assured her, though mentally noting she would have to find somewhere for Annie and Johanna to stay in District 12 – having them stay with the bride and groom seemed odd and she doubted Haymitch would welcome visitors with open arms, even if he liked these ones a lot. And of course Effie would have to find somewhere to stay herself, hopefully there would be another house in the vicinity which was decent enough for her to stay in. If there wasn't then she would just forget manners and barge in and announce to Haymitch that she was staying with him and hope he was too drunk to argue with her. Or that he was happy enough to see her that he wouldn't argue with it.

"Oh, I hope so. It'll be nice to have the wedding, won't it? It seems so long since we've seen everyone. And you'll be pleased to see Haymitch I suppose." Effie felt her cheeks flush with colour and was immediately grateful that Annie was not there to see her fairly guilty reaction to the statement.

"I don't know why you would think that." Effie huffed.

"Well because you two always used to gripe at each other, every year while you were mentoring but I just assumed that was because you were friends and you teased each other. And then when we were in 13 I remember someone saying to me he had tried very hard to get you out of the Capitol." Annie explained, sounding a little worried that she had offended her friend.

"Oh, well that was because I was essential to the operation!" Effie explained. At least that had been what she was told. Even to her that sounded a little unrealistic. "But I'm sure like everyone Haymitch will be delighted to see me." Annie laughed good-naturedly.

"I hope so. Let me know when you're there and what the wedding date is going to be so I can make travel plans. Should I bring the baby with me?"

"Absolutely." Effie assured her.

"That's good, I wouldn't like to leave him at home without me."

"No, of course you shouldn't do that, I should imagine everyone will be as thrilled to see him as they will be to see you. I've already told-" Effie was about to say Haymitch before she decided against it. "Everyone what a wonderful child he is."

"That's very sweet of you. I'll let you go now, have a safe trip!"

"Goodbye Annie, take care of yourself!"

Annie promised she would before the pair hung up their phones and Effie immediately called to arrange a train for the very next day and set about packing what she might need for a trip to District 12. It was nothing like the times she had been there before to call out the names at the reaping. The thought of doing that made her feel cold. She would look on the bright side, this was the time to make new memories there, to think of Katniss and Peeta living there and recall their beautiful wedding day that she would help to create rather than a memory of herself introducing them as tributes to the world.

They were the tributes she felt least guilty about reaping. The only two who had survived her entire time as an escort to District 12, and more importantly, the two who had been involved in ending everything. If she had called someone else, could the rebellion have ever happened? She smiled to herself as she made a note to mention to Haymitch that she was clearly the mastermind behind the entire rebellion because she pulled their names and amuse herself as he explained all the reasons she was wrong about that. She knew it would be childish to continually counter his arguments with 'but it couldn't have happened if I called different names' but she would anyway. The pair was ridiculous together, but she blamed him for his childish ways rubbing off on her.

Effie was taking far too many bags with her but she recalled that the train station was not that far away from their houses and, never one to travel light, she had carried more and further.

She left her home for an hour or so to go and select some fabrics for Katniss's dress. She knew that she would not get Katniss into a white gown, but she was determined to prove to Haymitch that she would get her to wear a dress. She chose a beautiful forest green which she knew Katniss was fond of. If she was violently opposed to the dress Effie supposed she could makes her some kind of blouse with it for her instead although she was not thrilled with the idea of Katniss walking down the aisle like that.

That night she barely slept, a heady mixture of excited and nervous, and she ended up going to the train station two hours before her train departed. As she sat there she thought she possibly should have called first.

"It will be a lovely surprise instead." she said to herself, a little unconvinced by her own words.

As the train pulled out of the station she looked out of the window, and for what might have been the first time she didn't feel sad at all leaving her home, only happy, and she allowed herself to once again be consumed by what Haymitch had said to her.

 _For what it's worth, I am looking forward to seeing you._


	4. Chapter 4

The knocking on Haymitch's door started while he was in oddly high spirits. For once he had decided to cook himself dinner rather than letting Katniss bring him over leftovers from whatever she and Peeta were eating – although she would likely do that anyway and he would not feel guilty at all about pretending he had not eaten yet. For once he didn't pretend he wasn't home, he just turned the heat down on his stove and walked to the door.

"Peeta, I've told you before to just let yourself in." Haymitch said remarkably patiently as he opened the door. He was a saint sometimes, he really was.

His eyes took a moment to adjust to what he was seeing on the other side of the door. She was wearing far less make-up than he was used to on her but it was her hair that threw him more than anything – for the first time since he had met her there wasn't anything on her head apart from her natural hair, wavy, blonde, and just a little past her chin. Her dress was far more typically her, bright pink against the dull grey sky outside, and it felt to him like a very literal wave of colour had just crashed back into his life. He was honestly awestruck by how completely beautiful she was without any of the ridiculous adornments she usually relied on.

"Really Haymitch, allowing just anyone to walk into your home is not safe, besides, letting myself in would be the height of poor manners, you didn't even know I was coming." Haymitch pulled her into a tight hug before she could say anymore, squeezing her so tightly he would worry after that it might have hurt her, but in the moment he just needed to be sure she was really there. He managed to lift her off the ground a little in his excitement. "Put me down for goodness sake!" she cried, but he had seen the smile on her face when he had opened the door and felt her putting her arms around him so he paid no attention. He needed to hold her because the whole time he did she couldn't leave him and the thought of that was already so painful. After about a minute she said: "You really must put me down now, Haymitch, I can barely breathe." and reluctantly he let her go, looking at her a little sheepishly once she was grounded again.

"I… uh… I didn't realise you were coming." he mumbled. Effie nodded brightly.

"Well, I was finished with everything I needed to do back at home and I thought 'why plan the wedding from afar when I could be here' so I hopped on a train as a lovely surprise for everyone." Haymitch hated to agree with her especially when she was using an intrinsically irritating turn of phrase, but she was right. It was a lovely surprise that she was here early. "You don't think Katniss will mind, do you?" Effie asked him, suddenly sounding very worried. Haymitch himself was just happy she had come to see him first.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Haymitch reassured her, and she smiled brightly at him. Haymitch looked behind her and saw the number of bags she had with her. "Eff, why do you need that much stuff, are you staying forever?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Effie said with a wave of her hand and Haymitch tried very hard to pretend that those three words hadn't just brought every hope he had tumbling to the ground. "In fact I'm not sure whether this will even be enough for the weeks I'm staying for, I might have to get in touch with someone back at home and ask them to send some more dresses." It felt genuinely painful for her to be referring to the Capitol as home, even though it was for her. He had to swallow the lump building in his throat every time he remembered she was only here temporarily and she was not here for him. "Are you going to invite me in? It's positively freezing out here." Haymitch nodded and opened the door wide enough for her and a couple of bags to fit in and he smirked when she shooed him outside to fetch the rest of them in.

He watched her as she went into his kitchen, nearly laughing at how incredibly out of place she looked in his house, even with her vastly more natural appearance.

"Your house is much nicer than I expected." Effie called from the kitchen. "And I must admit, I am pleasantly surprised you know how to cook, Katniss led me to believe that you were completely hopeless regarding anything like that."

"Not completely hopeless, it's just that most of the time Peeta makes them too much food and it's easier to just eat their leftovers than to cook for myself." Effie rolled her eyes at the admission but said nothing about it. "I know you probably ate on the train or something but there's more than enough if you're hungry." Effie bit her lip as she considered the offer.

"Just a small portion."

Effie complained about how much he gave her but still proceeded to eat everything on her plate commenting on how 'surprisingly adequate' the food was and every time he looked across the table at her Haymitch was consumed by the thought that even though she looked entirely out of place in his house she was somehow just where she was supposed to be.

"Where are you staying?" Haymitch asked her when the question suddenly occurred to him.

"I had not planned that far ahead." Effie admitted.

"You're welcome to stay here. You know, if you wanted to." Effie flashed a dazzling smile at the offer.

"That's very kind, although we might drive each other a little crazy."

"Probably." Haymitch agreed with her and they both laughed as their eyes met. He had offered because he wanted – no he needed – to be as close to her as possible while she was here. It was going to hurt like hell when she left whether she was staying with him or somewhere else, so it felt like a good offer to have made. "You can stay anyway."

"Good, now I won't have to lug my bags to another location. You are far more helpful that you used to be." Haymitch had to laugh.

"And your manners leave a lot more to be desired than they used to."

"And they're still far better than yours." Effie said with a bright smile as she got up from the table and started collecting the dishes to take over to the sink and turning the water on. "Do you remember we used to eat together sometimes when we were mentoring in the Capitol?" she asked suddenly, as though her mind had just recalled that as something they had once done.

"Yeah, I remember." he replied, and Effie hummed thoughtfully. "Remember the year we were eating together on the first night because both of the ones from 12 had managed to get through the first day and that had never happened in all the time you'd been escorting them, and the stylist they'd hired came up onto the floor because she thought it would be free and said 'I didn't realise you two were friends' and we both shouted at her so much for saying it that she quit on the spot." Effie laughed loudly as she started to clean the plates.

"That feels like so long ago…" Effie mused. "It was only the year before Katniss." Haymitch was surprised by that; it seemed like far longer ago. "A different lifetime, I suppose." He could only nod in agreement before silently starting to help her with the dishes. "I remember my first year best. They were both eleven, both dead in the first ten minutes of the games."

"You cried on my shoulder."

Effie smiled as she put away the last dishes and dried her hands, throwing Haymitch the cloth so he could do the same. The pair made no effort to move. Haymitch tried not to think about how close they were standing to each other.

"You said the next year it was the first time you'd felt like anyone from the Capitol was actually human." It was also the first time Haymitch had realised that he would never quite be able to hate Effie, this naïve woman who, despite where she came from, did genuinely care about the children she watched die year upon year, who had to whisper 'chins up, smiles on' before she walked out onto the stage to pick their names out of the bowls. He hadn't told her that then because he hadn't wanted to encourage a friendship between them. That seemed utterly ridiculous to him now.

"You were always the best of them, Eff." he told her quietly. "You still are."

The smile she gave him looked ready to shatter into a flood of tears and he knew he wouldn't be able to stand her crying. A tear rolled down her cheek and he quickly lifted his hand up to her face so he could brush it away. The half-laugh half-sob that she emitted was incredibly endearing.

"I missed you so much." she whispered. His hand was still on her face.

Haymitch didn't reply. He knew he could say a lot more by tilting her chin up and kissing her softly than he could with emotionally stunted words. He pulled away after a second and Effie looked disappointed by that, and the expression was the only conformation he needed to kiss her again, deeper this time, like she was air and he was drowning because he needed her desperately to want him as much as he wanted her and this was the first time that he had felt like she might. When they broke to breathe she smiled at him and rested her forehead against his and it was the most comforting gesture he had ever experienced. He thought they were about to kiss again when he heard his door open and Katniss shouting down the hall.

"Don't think I've gone crazy but Peeta swears there was a train in the station today and the driver said his only passenger had been a woman in a bright pink dress and Peeta is absolutely convinced it's Effie expect for the fact he has no idea where she might have gone and she didn't say she was coming which surely means it can't be her, right?" Haymitch stepped away from her and she covered the giggle that was threatening to escape from her mouth. He kept a hold on her right hand which he didn't actually remember taking. "Haymitch, why are there pink bags in your house?"

"This should be fun." Effie said quietly with a little wink in his direction. She squeezed his hand tightly before she let go, smoothed her hands down her dress and walked out of the kitchen with a loud: "Katniss, darling!" and Haymitch just stood there for a moment in utter disbelief that this woman who could not be any more different from him was someone he loved so deeply.


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe you're here! Why didn't you come and see me straight away?" Katniss asked her as Effie enveloped her in a hug. Effie sighed loudly.

"Well first I got lost on my way from the train station here – I know, utterly ridiculous but I always had someone else with me when I came here and I never bothered learning the landscape – and then when I arrived Haymitch was outside feeding his geese – which I cannot believe you allowed him to get – and I got rather caught up talking to him and I just needed to sit down, I truly was going to come straight over." Effie explained, and Katniss smiled. Katniss was usually very astute and Effie wondered if she realised this was a lie. "I hope you don't mind me coming early, I just thought wedding planning would be much easier with me here instead of so far away in the Capitol.

"Of course I don't mind, it's so good to see you Effie." Katniss assured her. Effie beamed.

"Is it?" Haymitch asked from the kitchen and Katniss shot him a glare while Effie rolled her eyes. "She's already invited herself to stay here." Effie pursed her lips. Going along with the lie was one thing, pretending she had lost her manners enough to do something like that (even if she had considered it) was another thing altogether.

"Effie, you can stay with us if you want to, it's no trouble."

"No, no." Effie said, not allowing herself to get flustered by that in the least. "All my bags are here now, I won't fuss about moving them. Well, I might tomorrow if staying here is absolutely awful." Effie said with a small shake of her head. She knew it wouldn't be.

Katniss insisted she go to their house for a large proportion of the evening even though Effie protested it was much too late for her to go and that she would spend time with her and Peeta the next day. It was no less than three hours before she was able to leave. It wasn't that she wasn't completely thrilled to see Katniss and Peeta because she was, of course she was, she loved them dearly, but frankly all she could even think about was Haymitch, and any guilt she might have felt for abandoning the soon to be wed couple had dissipated when she saw how happy Haymitch looked when she returned.

Effie found herself settling into life in District 12 with surprising ease. She found domesticity suited her, and even more surprisingly, that it suited Haymitch. In fact it suited him so well that she hadn't seen him have a drink since she had arrived, a fact she would never bring up of course.

The pair still irritated each other terribly, and that actually felt comforting to her. So far they had only had one proper screaming match.

It had been when she had accidentally admitted that Effie Trinket was a stage name as Haymitch had suspected for years over breakfast one morning about two weeks after she arrived. Perhaps admitting this at any other time of day would have been easier to deal with as then she would not have had to spend the entire rest of the day listening to him thinking up ridiculous suggestions as to what her real name might be and to him chortling hysterically every time she told him to be quiet. She was sure Katniss and Peeta over the road must have been able to hear her shouting at him, and that was even with her attempting to restrain herself and ignore the majority of his chiding.

In the end it was over dinner that she broke, when she attempted a normal conversation with her and he ignored her in favour of more suggestions and she found herself screaming at him that if he didn't stop she would pack up her bags and go back to the Capitol. Haymitch had stared at her for a minute before getting up silently and walking upstairs and Effie had been pleased that she won for about ten minutes before she felt bad for shouting at him. She had finished her dinner rubbing her temples occasionally, annoyed that she had caused herself a headache by yelling. It was a further hour before she mustered the courage to go up the stairs, apology on her tongue even though she maintained the entire thing was his fault and if he would stop trying to annoy her on purpose she wouldn't get so cross. She found him sitting on the bed they now shared staring at the wall and any final irritated comments disappeared from her head as she saw how upset he looked.

"Please don't leave, Eff." Haymitch had whispered as he looked up at her and she was completely consumed by guilt as she saw there were tears rolling down his cheeks. "Not yet." He physically made Effie's heart hurt.

And Effie had sat next to him and put her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Of course I'm not leaving, you ridiculous man." she had said as she tried to stop her voice from shaking. She took his hand in hers and sighed softly.

"You will eventually though." He sounded so small and broken.

"Not at all if you don't want me to." Before that she'd been telling herself she would make a decision about that later, but seeing him there she realised her mind had been made up since the second her train had left the Capitol. She couldn't leave him.

"Of course I don't want you to, you ridiculous woman." he had said with a very small smile playing on his lips, and she had laughed and kissed him on the cheek. They sat like that in silence for a few minutes and Effie felt calmer than she had that entire day. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't try to wind you up like that, I know. It's just easy, Eff. It's right there." Effie swatted him lightly on the arm.

"I know I'm partially to blame. I know you're only joking. I've never been very good at taking jokes." Effie picked at the skin around her thumb, a habit she had picked up during childhood as a way of dealing with uncomfortable conversations. Haymitch put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly to him for a second. He left his arm there and stroked his thumb repeatedly over her exposed collar bone. It felt strangely comforting and for a second she closed her eyes and let herself be consumed by the welcome embrace she was receiving.

"I love you, Eff."

He said it so quietly at first she thought she imagined it, and when she realised she hadn't her eyes flew open and she turned very quickly to look at him. The nervous, thoughtful expression he wore told her that actually he had said it, and more importantly that he meant it. She had already known it, or at least been fairly sure of it, but hearing it aloud was something altogether different. Effie smiled and realised that she was silently crying before leaning in to kiss him gently anyway.

"I love you too." she said the moment they parted. "But if I'm staying the geese really have to go."

"It's goodbye Effie then because I really am far more fond of the geese than you." She gave him another swat on the arm and a glare that lasted all of five seconds before both of them broke out in laughter. Effie couldn't remember having laughed so much in the collective rest of her life as she had done these past few weeks.

Being happy was strange and something she needed to adjust to, but in no way at all was it unwelcome.


	6. Chapter 6

For Katniss and Peeta, the presence of Effie in District 12 was without a doubt the most exciting thing that had happened there since they had finished fighting the rebellion and returned there. Every few days Effie would have more things sent to Haymitch's house, and they would listen to the pair bickering outside his house because she was taking up all his space and she would promise that those boxes were the last ones which they never were. The soon to be married couple had taken to eating their breakfast in their front room rather than in the kitchen because their morning arguments about Haymitch's geese were the best entertainment either of them had ever seen.

"They're like a married couple." Peeta had commented once to the horror of his fiancée.

"God, I hope we're nothing like that." she replied as she watched Effie marching out of the door across the road with folded arms, already dressed and fully made up even though it was barely eight in the morning. To both of them she still looked shockingly different without a wig. She said something, for once too quiet for them to hear, and Haymitch laughed at whatever it was and oddly didn't do anything back for a minute until Effie was distracted by something and he threw a handful of seeds in front of her.

"I am not one of your geese Haymitch!" she had shrieked now loud enough for them to hear, brushing herself off fiercely even though none of them had even been close to hitting her before she marched straight back inside the house. Katniss and Peeta had turned their back to the window at the same time and had to hold their mouths to keep the loud laughter inside that threatened to escape.

"Why doesn't she just come and stay here?" Peeta had wondered.

"Doesn't want to admit defeat?" Katniss suggested. That certainly sounded like her, she might be much politer than Haymitch but she was just as competitive at heart. "Or maybe she's staying out of spite, you know, because forcing him to put up with her is worse than anything he could do to her."

"There could be something romantic there…" Peeta suggested. Katniss barked out a laugh and shook her head quickly. "Well there definitely was at the train station!" They had engaged in this discussion multiple times since Effie had arrived. Peeta was convinced that the persistent arrival of boxes meant she was staying forever, Katniss was just sure it was wedding paraphernalia that she didn't need and more dressed because she seemed to get through at least three in a day.

"That was probably just Haymitch winning some bet or trying to annoy her…" Katniss waved it off with her hand. She still didn't quite believe that had happened at all, both she and Peeta knew better than to have ever asked Haymitch about it. "And even if it wasn't, it was two years ago."

"I always thought there was something there." Peeta said firmly. She rolled her eyes.

"I refuse to believe it."

"Well I think they'd be good together."

"Really? I think we would be in great danger of our house falling down because one of them was shouting so loudly that it caused an earthquake." Katniss didn't even think that was much of an exaggeration. "And by one of them I mean Effie."

"They're not that bad. They're friends now at the very least."

"Friends, yes. In their own odd way, but not anything else." Katniss reaffirmed as she watched Haymitch walking into his house with a smirk on his face shouting Effie's name.

Effie insisted on having the pair of them over to dinner one day. Katniss had been about to say no when Peeta had answered that they would both be delighted to go. Effie and Peeta had been very excited about the idea, Haymitch and Katniss had both worn the same look of horror the entire day leading up to the event. They ate together all the time of course, but Peeta and Effie were insisting on making this a 'special event'. Katniss had thought that phrase being used for a dinner didn't bode very well for the 'small, simple wedding' that Effie was planning for her. She wasn't sure Effie even knew the definitions of the words small and simple, they were exactly the opposite of everything she was.

Peeta had spent the day baking a cake for both of them, Katniss had caught the rabbits they would be eating that morning and Haymitch had cooked them in the afternoon. When Katniss and Peeta had arrived she inquired as to what Effie had been doing all day and Haymitch had sighed loudly.

"Getting ready. I did explain that it was just the four of us but she ignores me even more than she usually does when I'm trying to reason with her." If Katniss hadn't known much better she could have sworn that he said it with an unusually fond tone, but she put it down to the ear which still gave her trouble after the explosion in her first Hunger Games. "Effie, Katniss and Peeta are here!" he shouted upstairs without warning. Both of them jumped in surprise before they heard Effie yelling something down in response and the look they gave each other wondered exactly why neither she nor Haymitch seemed able to have a conversation at a normal volume. "What was that, Eff?" They heard a door open.

"I said I'm not coming down, have dinner without me." Effie was doing her best to keep her voice steady but she sounded upset about something, and all three of them knew that Effie wouldn't miss a scheduled event for no reason.

"Go through to the kitchen, I'll find out what's wrong with her." Haymitch assured them quietly and the pair watched in half-amusement as he walked up the stairs and heard him fling open a door and ask loudly what could possibly be wrong with Capitol darling and self-appointed guardian of manners that she would leave guests waiting.

Katniss managed to sit in the kitchen for all of three and a half minutes before, to Peeta's horror, she went upstairs herself to find out what was wrong – for once she had followed Effie's insturctions and barely eaten that day so she could eat a lot there, and she wanted them to hurry dinner along. She followed their voices and found the pair with their backs to the door sat on the bed in Haymitch's room. She nearly smiled when she saw he had his arm around her.

"You really don't think it's that bad?" Effie was asking him quietly. Haymitch chuckled and shook his head. "Maybe I should start wearing my wigs again…"

"Don't do that." Haymitch advised her. "Your real hair's much nicer. It's not even a proper grey hair, Eff," Katniss had to stop herself from sniggering. Of course Effie was having a breakdown over something vanity based that no-one apart from her would have even noticed. Katniss was just amazed that Haymitch was being so patient with her about it. "It's sort of ash-blonde." Effie giggled and shook her head.

"Fine, but if I find another one I'll either start wearing my wigs again or start dyeing it religiously." Haymitch rolled his eyes but let it go, probably realising that was a discussion it would be best to have another day when people weren't waiting to eat downstairs. "I mean, I can barely believe it, me, a young woman of twenty-five with a grey hair! It's beggar's belief, it really is." Haymitch laughed loudly.

"Bullshit you're twenty-five, Eff." Effie huffed but apparently saw it would be useless to argue. "If you're going to lie about your age make it believable. I've know you twelve years and you sure as hell weren't thirteen when I met you."

"Fine. I'll be twenty-six."

"I think thirty would be more believable."

"How rude! I'm certainly not in my thirties Haymitch! Twenty-eight is the highest I'm willing to go. I'll decide when I turn thirty." Haymitch laughed and kissed the top of her head. Katniss wondered idly if Effie would one day star claiming that she was younger than Katniss was and she sniggered as quietly as she could. `

"How old are you really, Eff?" Haymitch wondered after a second. Katniss pulled a face. Even she knew that was a bad question to ask her, but Effie only remained silent and offended looking for a few moments before she sighed.

"Thirty-six."

"See, that wasn't so hard to admit." Haymitch praised her. Effie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. If I tell anyone you'll kill the geese."

"And you."

"Now, will you please come downstairs?" Effie nodded and Haymitch gave her a soft kiss before he stood and offered her a hand to help her up. Effie threw her arms around him and he didn't seem to mind this at all, and Katniss took the moment while they were distracted to sneak back down the stairs and hope they didn't hear her and figure out she had been listening in. Effie would be utterly horrified at the lack of manners an action like that displayed.

"Is she okay?" Peeta asked her when she went in. Katniss shrugged.

"I just went to the bathroom, but I didn't hear any yelling so it can't be that bad." Katniss reasoned. She loved Peeta dearly, now probably more than anyone else she had left, but admitting he had been right about Haymitch and Effie was not something she was prepared to do yet.

"Sorry I held you up!" Effie exclaimed as she breezed into the kitchen, all smiles and politeness now. "Slight wardrobe malfunction, I shan't bore you with the details!"

Katniss didn't watch her while she spoke. She watched Haymitch who had his gaze fixed on Effie wearing a look that she couldn't quite read for a moment before she realised it was the same one she had when she was listening to Peeta for a long time, one that said that despite all Effie's quirks, he was completely in love with her, and Katniss wondered if maybe they were much more suited to each other than she had first assumed.


	7. Chapter 7

Haymitch woke up to a raised voice outside his window and he leapt out of bed when he realised it was Effie. He was aware that he needed to stop jumping every time she raised her voice, she got flustered over the most minor things.

"Haymitch!" He opened the curtains and pushed up the window. He couldn't remember ever having opened it before. He leant out and saw her standing a few steps away from the front door being blocked by his geese. "Come down here now and get your disgusting birds away from me!" He was trying very hard not to laugh at her, and for the first time he noticed Katniss and Peeta watching from their front room across the street. Oh well, Haymitch thought. Let the pair of them treat them like live entertainment, they didn't have much else to do for fun.

"I'm on my way my darling!" he called down mockingly sweetly and she glared up at the window. He moved away but he took his time getting dressed and walking down the stairs. To Effie's credit she had stopped shouting but he could hear her trying and failing to shoo the birds away from the door. Animals and children had always been her shortcomings.

It took Haymitch all of three seconds to move the geese away from the door once he had opened it and Effie looked even more annoyed now that he had succeeded where she had failed.

"I am going to start ridding us of those birds one by one." Her voice was even more shrill than usual and Haymitch felt momentarily bad that he had taken so long to get down there.

"They would hate you less if you fed them."

"I will not feed them! They are your responsibility! I will not help with the geese!" Effie shoved what she was carrying into his chest and stormed back into the house he looked down and saw that it was only a bag of sugar but realised that if she had needed to go and get sugar then she hadn't yet had her coffee, meaning the geese would have put her in an even worse mood than they usually did. Haymitch had lost a significant number of mornings since she had started living with him trying to appease her out of some geese-induced tantrum and he still found them absolutely hilarious.

Three days later he opened the curtains to her feeding the geese outside – though never getting too close, instead throwing them their seed from the front door step and jumping every time one of them got too close to her. He was tempted to stay upstairs and spare her the embarrassment of having to explain but he had never possessed that much willpower.

He caught her just as she was shutting the door and she screamed when she turned around and saw him and hid the bag of seed behind her back.

"It's rude to sneak up on people!" Effie complained.

"Whatcha got there, Eff?" he asked her with a wide grin over her face, nodding to her hands behind her back.

"Things for the wedding."

"Can I see them?" Effie looked furious with him for asking and he knew he was enjoying himself far too much.

"Fine! I was feeding your horrible geese because apparently there's no getting rid of them so I might as well make them like me so they don't eat me when I'm trying to leave the house one day." Haymitch laughed and put an arm around her to lead her into the kitchen and get her a coffee. Effie feeding the geese was enough to put him in a good mood for the rest of the day, because if she was bothering to make peace with something she so utterly detested then there was no doubt in his mind that she was staying permanently. The closer they got to Katniss and Peeta's wedding, the most uneasy he became about her presence there, how fragile it all seemed even though she swore she wasn't going anywhere. To show his appreciation for her befriending his geese, Haymitch had gone with her to the forest and let her explain for nearly an hour the vision she had for Katniss's wedding and spent the entire afternoon in a small clearing, hauling logs and making sure they were 'pretty woods' rather than 'ugly woods' even though he didn't really know how that was achieved.

When they got home he had asked curiously about the dress she was sewing for Katniss and Effie had smiled brighter than he had ever seen and taken him into the guest bedroom that she had claimed as her workshop and showed it to him.

"What do you think?" Effie bit the top of her thumb as she allowed Haymitch to survey the project she had been working on for weeks now. "I double stitched the hem so that it won't snag in the forest." The dress was a dark green with a straight neckline. It reached the floor but seemed like it would be easy to move in which Haymitch decided was a good choice for Katniss. From the waist down was a delicate netting in the same green as the dress with small flowers attached to it. "I knew she wouldn't want white but I still thought she deserved to look beautiful. Is it horrible?"

"She's going to love it, Eff." Haymitch assured her. "It's beautiful, you've done an amazing job." A hint of blush formed on Effie's cheeks at the praise he was giving her. It was all very genuine, she had done an incredible job.

"Would you like to see the others?"

"Others?" Effie smiled and walked to the closet which was pushed against the back wall of the room and opened the doors.

"Two suits, one for you, one for Peeta." Effie said, taking them out. She had made them in a light grey. Their ties were the same colour as the wedding dress. "And you aren't allowed to complain about me making you wear something formal." Haymitch nodded in a silent promise that he wouldn't. He wasn't thrilled with the idea but he appreciated the hard work that she had put into it. He wondered how few people in her life realised what a genuinely kind and selfless person she could be. She hung the suit back up and took out a short dress done in lace the same colour as Katniss's dress. "It took me an age to convince Johanna over the phone to wear a dress, but I managed. She said as long as it was a dark colour she would agree to it, which was fine because the theme was already green." She put it away and Haymitch walked in closer to her.

"Why don't you get Katniss over here now and show her this?" Haymitch asked her. Effie looked at the floor and shook her head.

"I'm worried it's wrong." Haymitch used one hand to join with hers and the other to tilt her chin up so she was looking at him. "I don't want to have ruined her day because I made the wrong thing and I know she doesn't care about these silly things as much as I do because she's a sensible person with proper priorities but she asked me to do this because she thought I could do it well and I don't want to fail." Effie rarely had moments of insecurity, at least, she rarely voiced them, so it was genuinely painful for him to hear her this unsure.

"I promise you, she's not going to think this is wrong."

Within the hour Effie had been convinced to bring Katniss to their home and the younger girl was standing in the middle of the room while Effie took note about what alterations needed to be made. Haymitch could say with confidence he had never seen Katniss gush about anything before, getting over excited wasn't her style, but the way she kept remarking on how perfect the dress was and what a good job Effie had done might have been the closest she'd ever been.

"Effie, this is so beautiful." Katniss assured her as she watched herself in the mirror. "Thank you so much." Haymitch had never seen Effie looked more shocked or pleased than that moment when Katniss threw her arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. Katniss went and changed out of the dress and came back to hand it carefully over to Effie who carefully put it back on her mannequin and set about pinning the dress where it needed changed. "Have you mentioned to Haymitch what we were discussing yesterday?" Katniss asked her, going to stand beside him. Effie shook her head, mouth currently occupied holding the pins that she was about to use. Katniss grinned at him.

"What doesn't Haymitch know?" he asked her suspiciously. Katniss laughed.

"Nothing sinister, don't worry. We were just discussing the ceremony yesterday and I asked Effie if she thought you'd be alright with giving me away." Haymitch was stunned into a bemused silence. "I know it's a silly tradition and I won't mind if you say no. I just… I just thought, well, you're the closest thing I have to a father." Effie was rubbing off on him because before he knew it he was holding Katniss very tightly, still unable to form the words he needed to accept the offer. "Is that a yes?"

"Of course I will." Katniss looked incredibly relieved that he hadn't turned her down, as though he could ever say no to something like that.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone arrived two days before the wedding, and Effie was surprisingly calm about the whole affair. She had everything planned down to a 'T'. The few guests attending would be those who had moved back to District 12 after the rebellion, people who Katniss and Peeta had known their whole lives. There were around twenty-five of them, and Katniss had wanted to cut down the number a little but when she and Effie had sat down to do this she felt far too guilty and instructed Effie to invite everyone. Then there was Haymitch, Annie, Katniss's mother, Johanna, and Effie herself of course.

Effie met Annie and Katniss's mother off the train from District 4. She hadn't made Haymitch go with her because he was going later in the day to meet Johanna. The walk home was full of her assuring Katniss's mother that everything was going to plan and excitedly describing the dresses she had made for them which they both seemed very excited to try on. She was just as excited to see them wearing them, she knew everyone was going to look wonderful in her creations.

When the conversation died down a little, Katniss's mother became very quiet and walked a little slower, and she seemed wary about being back. Effie sympathised greatly, it must have been so difficult for her to return to a place which reminded her of so much she had lost. Effie took her hand at one point when she seemed particularly lost and the woman looked incredibly grateful for the support. When Annie saw what Effie was doing she did the same. The pair had bonded since she began living in District 4, Effie had noticed their friendship when she had stayed there a little while ago. They were both haunted by people they had lost but they seemed to help each other through it nicely, and both were good at calming the other down when they needed it. Effie knew Katniss had trouble with her mother sometimes, and she prayed that the girl had enough sense to go easy on her.

Katniss's mother and Annie and hated the geese immediately ("See Haymitch, I told you they were horrible.") but Annie's son absolutely adored them. The two year old toddled happily after the 'gooses' and Haymitch agreed to watch him while Annie went to unpack because he cried when they tried to take him away from his new friends. Effie kept looking out of the window of the guest bedroom down into their garden and smiling as she saw him playing with the boy and she tried very hard to pretend she wasn't imagining that he was out there with their child looking so happy.

To Effie's delight Katniss was very sweet and patient with her mother and they sat down to have tea together once she had finished unpacking. Effie and Annie left them alone and she took Annie to see the dresses.

"Are you sure you don't mind watching him a while longer?" Annie asked Haymitch who had her son on his shoulders.

"No, you go ahead, I know Effie's excited to show you her work." Effie raised her eyebrows, knowing that actually he was having a good time with the boy and he liked looking after him for Annie but she didn't voice that, only smiled knowingly.

"Goose!" the little boy announced and Annie jumped behind Effie looking around.

"Annie don't worry, they're all away now, he's just decided that's my name." Haymitch admitted. Annie tried to correct her son ("Haymitch, darling, not goose." "Goose.") while Effie laughed hysterically. It seemed like a punishment for him inflicting the geese on her in the first place.

Altering Annie's dress took all of ten minutes and Annie seemed delighted with how she looked in it and praised the wonderful job that Effie had done.

"The train was actually quite lovely." Annie said while they ate lunch when Peeta asked her how the journey had been. They had headed back to see eat with Katniss and Peeta as a large group. "He slept through most of it, so it was nice and quiet." She nodded towards the stairs which Katniss's mother who had not been hungry enough to eat with them had taken her son up a few minutes ago to put him down for a nap. She turned to Effie before continuing. "We haven't made return arrangements though because we wondered if you might want to come back to District 4 with us for a little while before you head home." Her eyes darted to Haymitch who was staring at his food pretending not to be interested in the conversation.

"It's a very kind offer, and I would love to visit soon, but I…" Effie looked at Haymitch questioningly. She wasn't going to announce her intention to stay if he didn't want her to. He gave her a small encouraging smile. "Well, I'm actually going to be staying here for good." The flood of questions from Peeta and Annie that ensued was no more than she had expected, although she noticed Katniss sitting quietly and not bothering to ask her anything and she realised quickly that she must have already guessed what was going on between her and Haymitch. If so, she was a lot more perceptive that Effie had previously given her credit for. "I won't discuss this decision at the present, we have far more important things to talk about regarding the wedding."

"Did you know she was staying?" Peeta asked Haymitch almost accusingly.

"Of course I did." Haymitch said with a shake of his head, as though he couldn't believe Peeta was asking him such an obvious question. "Considering she's living with me I think it would be pretty rude of her not to tell me." Annie gave Effie a questioning look which the older woman pretended not to see in favour of taking a sip of her water and acting as though it was the most interesting thing in the entire world.

"She's going to keep living with you?" Annie asked Haymitch who sighed loudly.

"Obviously."

As Peeta was about to ask another question Effie watched Katniss place a hand on his forearm and shake her head. Peeta sat back in his chair looking irritated at the lack of answers, and Effie threw Katniss a grateful look.

"I'm really glad you're staying Effie." Katniss said with a genuine smile.

"As am I." Effie replied, and as soon as the group had turned their attention back to lunch she felt Haymitch take her hand under the table and she felt incredibly relieved now that everyone knew she was staying because she knew he secretly wondered if, despite all her promises, she would end up leaving anyway, and hopefully sharing the news would convince him that she was not going anywhere.


	9. Chapter 9

The morning of the wedding went off without a hitch, mostly because Effie had arranged things down to the last few seconds. She had spent most of her time getting Katniss and the other women ready before she darted back to Haymitch's house – which she realised she was soon going to need to start referring to as her house which was a very odd but not at all unpleasant thought – so that she could get ready herself. That was perhaps the only moment she had felt a little stressed out by the whole thing. She liked to allow plenty of time to get herself ready and a small hiccup with Katniss's hair had set her back a little.

"Effie, I'm sure you look fine, we're going to be late for the wedding you so meticulously organised." Haymitch called up again. He'd been saying some variation of this every two minutes since she had raced past him upstairs to get dressed. She cursed him silently – this was not the day for them to get into a screaming match.

"One more minute!" she called before checking herself in the mirror again. She had to admit that the green of the dress made her skin look pretty, although she thought she was too pale. She had brushed her light blonde hair at least fifty times and she almost cried looking at herself in the mirror because she was standing there in a plain dress that she had worked so hard on and for the first time in her life she was actually able to admit to herself that she might just look better without all the adornments that the Capitol had expected her to wear. And, taking a deep breath, she slid her heels on and went down the stairs. She had stopped rushing now, she refused to be out of breath and a disgusting mess for this.

Haymitch was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs and looked up the second he heard her.

"God, Effie, you look-"

"I know, I know, I look like a normal person for once." Effie sighed, not actually annoyed at him, just a little stressed from being hurried and worried that something could still go wrong especially if they didn't hurry up and leave. She got to the bottom of the stairs and stood next to him and pursed her lips when he didn't move in favour of continuing to stare at her.

"No, you look so beautiful. Even more so than you usually do." he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He knew better than to kiss her after she had spent so much time on her make-up, she had explicitly banned him that morning which he remembered and she was very appreciative of that.

"You look very handsome in your suit."

"No-one's going to be looking at me, Eff." He brushed a stray curl of hair away from her face and she thought he was about to break her cardinal rule and she wouldn't have minded too much if Peeta hadn't chosen the moment to let himself into their house. He looked surprised to see the way they were standing but neither of them made any effort to hide what had been happening. It wasn't a secret anymore if it ever really had been one. Effie maintained that there was a difference between people not picking up on obvious signals and the pair of them having deliberately deceived them. Effie rested her forehead against his for a few moments before she moved away from him and smiled brightly and turned to Peeta.

"Let's get to your wedding then!" she said with a small laugh, and she swore she had never seen a man as happy about the prospect of getting married as Peeta was, and she was nearly tearing up already. This day was going to wreak havoc on her make-up, she could just tell. Luckily she had packed most of her make-up into her purse so she would be able to rectify any damage that tears made.

Haymitch held her arm out to her and she remarked as she looped her arm through his and exited the hose that she had wished she had known years ago that all it would take was one suit to turn him into a gentleman. He was still too busy admiring how beautiful she looked to argue with her, even jokingly the way they always did. The pair of them chatted the whole way there, mostly about Annie's son who Haymitch had barely spent a minute apart from since he arrived. Effie didn't tease him about that at all because she thought it was incredibly sweet and she didn't want to discourage it.

"Sure you're okay Peeta?" Haymitch turned around and asked him. The younger man was still grinning excitedly.

"I can't wait to see her." he said almost wistfully, and Effie touched a hand to her chest, delighted that it wasn't nerves at all that were causing him to be quiet, just enthusiasm about marrying a woman he loved so much.

Peeta was sent into the clearing in the forest where the guests were already beginning to gather, and Effie and Haymitch stood hand in hand greeting the later comers.

Johanna arrived slightly before the other girls as she had appointed herself Peeta's 'best woman'.

"I have to admit, the dress isn't half bad, Effie." Johanna commented as she passed them and Effie beamed because that was far higher praise than she had been expecting from Johanna. "I'll see you both in there." Johanna was pretending to be apathetic about the whole affair, but Effie could tell that she was happy for Peeta. They seemed the oddest friends, and they were only close because of what they had been through together during the rebellion, but Effie was glad Johanna had someone. She didn't need Effie to worry about her, of course not, but Effie worried about everybody. She watched her greeting Peeta and standing beside him at the altar, every so often leaning into him and saying something quietly which would make him grin or have to stifle a laugh.

Katniss arrived looking like a princess in her wedding dress, green so beautiful against her brown hair, bouquet of white flower in her hand that her mother had gathered that morning.

"How is he?" Katniss asked Effie as she fussed over the bottom of her dress, making sure it wasn't suddenly too long and hadn't dragged up any mud on the way there. Effie should have known better than to doubt herself, it was still absolutely perfect.

"He's so thrilled he could barely even speak on the way here." Katniss nodded and smiled. Effie noticed she didn't look at all nervous either and thought for the millionth time what a wonderful couple the two of them made. They were so devoted to each other, so completely in love. When she had met Katniss she hadn't imagined she would be capable of loving someone so much, but Peeta brought out the best in her just as she brought it out in him.

"Ready?" Haymitch asked her. When Katniss nodded he kissed Effie on the cheek and took Katniss's arm. "I really do feel like I'm giving our child away, Eff." Katniss gave him a questioning look. "Just something she said to me when she called to tell me about the wedding." Katniss laughed.

"Effie, promise me one thing?" Katniss asked her. "Please cry quietly." Effie nodded because it was a fair request considering she was already holding back tears.

The music started and it was her Katniss looked to for a nod of encouragement before she stepped forward to walk down the aisle and Effie halted for a moment before she started walking down after her with Annie and her mother because she realised that the look Peeta wore when he saw her was exactly the same one Haymitch had worn barely an hour earlier when she had walked down the stairs. She managed not to cry until she had finished walking the aisle. She held her breath as he placed Katniss's hand in Peeta's and naturally came to stand next to her to watch.

"God Eff, already?" he whispered to her, reaching a hand up to wipe away the tear from under her eye gently. She nodded and he smiled at her, circling her waist with an arm, letting her rest her head on his shoulder and that was how they stayed for the duration of the ceremony.


	10. Chapter 10

Haymitch was actually enjoying the wedding reception more than he thought he would, and he knew it was because Effie's enthusiasm was completely infectious. They were only holding it in Peeta and Katniss's back garden but Effie had made it look beautiful with hanging lights and delicate table cloths. Had had asked her to dance fully anticipating her delight at the offer and not anticipating at all that he would enjoy twirling her around and listening to her laughing, aware that people were watching and not giving a damn about any of them, just revelling in how happy he could make her. When they stopped dancing after six consecutive songs to sit he pulled her onto his lap and kept his arms tightly around her waist.

Peeta looked deliriously happy whenever he looked at his new wife and Haymitch would almost have been jealous if he hadn't felt just as happy whenever he looked at Effie.

"Thank you for all of this, Effie." Katniss had said when she came over and Effie politely brushed it off as having been no trouble at all but Haymitch and Katniss were both overwhelmingly aware of how much work this had been for her, whether she had enjoyed completing it or not. Effie had already received several requests from guests at the wedding to make them clothes, and it seemed like the unasked question of exactly how Effie would occupy her time in District 12 now that the wedding was over had been answered for her.

"I could set up a little workshop in town – I can't keep working out of our guest bedroom." It did not go unnoticed that she said 'our' but he allowed her to go on. "I'll sell to people here but mainly the Capitol. I could even branch out into other Districts."

"Are you still going to do your make-over thing?"

"Of course! I love doing it. I'll either do it a few days at a time so I'm never away for too long or you can come with me if need be. Or you might quite fancy a month or so with me gone in which case I'll leave you here."

"I don't think I'd ever want to be away from you that long." Haymitch assured her. "But a break from your loudness and ridiculous dresses might not hurt for a week or so." Effie elbowed him out of indignation and he laughed. He would go with her if she needed to be away a long while, although he was already worried about who would take care of the geese if he did that. Peeta didn't like them but Katniss was unreliable and would likely forget to feed them. He decided not to think about it then, Effie didn't need to leave for a while and over-planning months before something was even confirmed was her thing, not his.

Effie didn't drink all night, and Haymitch didn't say anything about it because it's how it always was with them, he remembered. Before the rebellion, if he was required to be sober for an event, Effie stayed sober in a show of support for him, if he was drinking she stayed sober so she could ensure he didn't insult the wrong people.

"Goose!" he heard shouted from across the garden and Effie diligently untangled herself from him and pulled up another seat so he could lift the little boy up when he came running over. "Fie!" he said as he looked at Effie and she smiled brightly.

"Hello darling!" she cooed, stroking a hand through the little boy's hair. She looked at Haymitch, still smiling. "I like my nickname much better than yours."

"I happen to be very fond of mine."

"Only you could welcome a comparison to such grotesque creatures." Effie huffed. She liked to pretend she still loathed the geese as much as she had when she arrived and that she didn't find some comfort in the routine of feeding them. He knew she did because it was the same reason he liked them. The boy laughed, and Haymitch suspected that while he didn't know what Effie was saying he recognised the tone she used. He held his little arms up to her and Haymitch lifted him over to her and watched as she hugged the child close to her chest for what seemed like a long while before allowing him to sit down on her knee.

The carried on conversing for a little while and they passed the boy between them whenever he wanted attention from the other. He was too tired to do what he usually did while adults spoke and occasionally interject with a word of varying relevance to the conversation that was occurring and eventually he fell asleep on Haymitch who didn't mind at all. It only stayed like that for five minutes before Annie walked by anyway.

"Look at you three, almost like a little family!" Annie remarked. Haymitch and Effie looked at each other for a moment before smiling at her. "You should have called me over, I would have taken him up to bed, it's getting very late."

"We didn't mind watching him for a while." Haymitch assured her while Effie nodded in agreement.

He passed Annie her son very carefully so as not to wake the little boy and watched as she took him inside the house.

"You're going to miss him when he's gone, aren't you?" Effie asked. Haymitch could have denied it, could have pretended he was only being kind to the boy because that's how people are supposed to be with children but he sighed and nodded. Effie smiled sadly and took his hand. "We'll go and visit. As soon as you like." she promised him, and he felt some relief at that but not quite enough and he couldn't put his finger on why this whole thing had bothered him as much as it did and he very nearly said _'we could have one of our own'_ but he stopped himself just short of it. He couldn't help wondering if the same thought was passing through her head and then wrote it off and pushed the thought from his head.

"Come on." Haymitch said, standing and offering her a hand. "I know you like everyone watching you dance." Effie didn't deny the accusation – this wasn't her day but she was still fond of being the centre of attention in her own way, although when Katniss and Peeta came to dance with the rest of their guests the pair moved so they could be in the centre, visible to everyone.

"Don't worry." Haymitch whispered to her as he held her close during a slow song. "When it's our turn all eyes will be on you all day."

* * *

I don't know how much longer this fic is going to be - it's quickly spiraled from two chapters into ten but I currently don't have any plans for it to me much longer than twenty chapters altogether. For those of you enjoying my writing (and thank you so much for all your lovely comments, reading them makes my day) I have a lot of other Hayffie ideas at the moment, I'm completely obsessed with these two! Two I'm really leaning towards are a prequel to this and and slightly romcom style AU which I was inspired to write doing the scene in this chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Effie would not give Haymitch the satisfaction of overreacting to what he said even though she was very tempted to scream _'_ _Haymitch Abernathy was that a proposal?'_ at him because she knew perfectly well that he would say yes only to get out of proposing to her properly and she would see him on one knee telling her how much he adored her and how he wanted to spend his life with her even if it was the last thing she did. She couldn't see his face, she was tucked under his chin, and the pair was still swaying slowly to the soft music. She could feel his breath on the top of her head which she fit under very nicely even in her heels. She instead she gathered herself for what some might have considered a moment too long to be natural and said:

"I'm looking forward to it."

She could feel more than hear his laugh pressed in that close to him and she grinned to herself because she knew that he wanted to marry her and that meant he wanted her forever, a permanent fixture in his life, and he wasn't going to get sick of her and make her go back to the Capitol. She was nearly crying again at the thought. Effie had been called 'ridiculous' a thousand times – and mostly by Haymitch – but today she really felt it, tearing up at the most minor of provocations. To his credit, Haymitch was being very patient with it.

They spent the rest of the evening dancing and talking with friends. When Effie went off to talk to Annie she was delighted when she looked back over and saw Haymitch dancing with Katniss, both of them laughing hysterically.

"I'm terrible at this!" Katniss cried at one point, still laughing, not letting it deter her at all.

Peeta came over and sweetly asked Effie if she would like to dance with him and then suggested they should try to dance as a trio because he didn't want Annie to be left out. Effie was touched enough that she nodded enthusiastically. Even with the fact they kept bumping into each other and could really only jump around slightly manically in a circle they were still more graceful than Katniss and Haymitch and Effie was out of breath more from the laughter than she was from the dancing and had to sit down and wipe tears from under her eyes, relieved that this time they had only formed because she found the whole thing so hysterical and not because she was such an over-emotional person.

They were the last two to leave and Effie kissed Katniss on the cheek and said she was the most beautiful bride there would ever be.

"Until I get married, of course." Effie said once she was out of earshot and she wondered if Haymitch would be annoyed at her for mentioning their potential wedding again but instead he laughed amicably and agreed with her.

"Unless you wear one of your wigs." he added.

"I'll wear three just to irritate you."

"All at the same time or swapping them over at various points in the day?" Effie pretended to consider this thoughtfully as she sat down on the steps outside their house and kicked off her heels – even for her it had been a long day in them and they were beginning to feel quite uncomfortable. Haymitch lit the candles she had placed out there so he could see her and sat down next to her, casually placing an arm around her shoulder. Her heart raced when he did things like that seemingly without thinking, as though his natural instinct now was to have her as close to him as it was possible for her to be.

"I think all three at once during the ceremony and then alternate between all three of the separately during the reception. All three at once seems very impractical for dancing." Haymitch laughed at the mental image.

"Don't make me regret asking you, Eff."

"You haven't asked me properly yet."

"Am I allowed to ask you properly now?"

"No, being as we both know you don't have a ring for me and there is simply no point is getting engaged unless I have a ring to show off." Effie said firmly and Haymitch sighed before he kissed the top of her head fondly both knowing that she was at least partially serious about it. "Now, would you please bring me some tea out?" Effie was fond of sitting outside and having a mug of tea before bed, and Haymitch was used to being used to fetch it by now. She liked sitting outside – the air in the Capitol had never been as fresh as it was here and all the lights on the buildings hid the stars. She might have looked for constellations if she had known any, so instead she tried to make them up, sometimes looking to see if she could find her initials or Haymitch's anywhere up there.

"Of course, dear." he said a little mockingly but not unkindly. Before he went inside he shrugged off his jacket and put it around her shoulders and brushed his thumb over her cheek and as she heard him opening the door she felt very suddenly overwhelmed.

"Oh and Haymitch?" He halted in the doorway. "If you come out here and attempt to propose to me with some paraphernalia from your kitchen such as a piece of string or twine I will move in with Katniss and Peeta." He grinned at her and went inside and she wondered if she had stopped the plan or put the idea into his head. She would never joke like that and threaten to go back to the Capitol, because even if like that it was purely a joke it still upset Haymitch even if he pretended it didn't and even though he teased her mercilessly and they needled at each other she never wanted to be the cause of any real sadness for him.

Effie pulled his jacket closer around her and stared at the stars until he came back, setting down the two mugs he had made for them. She was pleased, he didn't often join her when she was sitting outside on an evening like this, he usually complained that it was too cold or that he didn't like being outside at night because it seemed unfair that the geese were locked away and had to see him out there. The latter annoyed her far more than the former because she knew that even if he laughed there was some ridiculous semblance of truth there.

He didn't sit. Instead he stood in front of her for a moment smiling to himself before he got down on one knee, and as she realised what was happening Effie covered her mouth and shot up and nearly knocked over the tea next to her. He eyes were blown wide with disbelief as she saw the dark box in his hand.

"I promise it's not string." Haymitch said quietly and she laughed almost nervously and she didn't quite know why she was so anxious because both of them knew what her answer would be, and yet she still felt herself shaking and knew that it was not because of the chill in the air. Haymitch flipped open the box. The candlelight nicely caught the ring inside – a large sapphire between two diamonds on a silver band. It was simple, nowhere near her usual extravagance, and she thought it was absolutely beautiful. "It was my mother's. I looked it out the day after you got here. I know it's not… You know, it's not good enough but I wanted to ask you tonight Eff and it can just be a placeholder until I get you something better." Effie shook her head almost violently.

"It's perfect." Haymitch looked both delighted and relieved. "Ask away then."

"Really, Eff? It's not like you don't know the question."

"Haymitch…" Even Effie didn't know how she managed to sound so fond and so stern at the same time. It was a gift, truly it was.

"Effie… Darling, light of my life, self-obsessed, Effie." She rolled her eyes but smiled as he took her hand. "I love you very much even though you are very cruel about my delightful geese." Again she rolled her eyes but his expression sobered suddenly. "I really can't remember being so happy before in my life as I am now that you're here. We've known each other a very long time, and you probably deserve some kind of medal for putting up with my teasing all these years and still bein able to love me now. I can't imagine the rest of my life without you, Eff, I would be completely miserable and so, I would be very happy if you agreed to be my wife."

"Of course I will!" she cried, unable to contain her excitement over it any longer and Haymitch took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger and Effie felt a very relieving sense that she would have somewhere to belong and someone to belong with for the rest of her life.


	12. Chapter 12

It took Effie all of twenty seconds to announce their engagement when they went over to see the others the next morning which she had told him she was going to do, claiming that it was 'no longer Katniss's day' so she didn't have to feel bad about being the centre of attention again and he would have minded more if he didn't feel so proud every time she showed someone else the ring and reaffirmed how excited she was that she was going to be his wife. Haymitch himself couldn't believe he was going to be somebody's husband. Husband. The word felt strange running around in his head but every time he looked at her he felt a renewed sense of excitement.

"I'm so happy for you both!" Annie exclaimed as she hugged Effie. "You should have the wedding in District 4, you loved it when you were there."

"What a lovely idea! However, we're not in any rush, I think we'll take some time with our engagement rather than rushing ahead with the wedding, won't we?" Haymitch nodded. They hadn't actually discussed that but Effie was perceptive enough to realise that was what he wanted. They had no reason to rush and he didn't want Effie to be overwhelmed by the stress of trying to plan another wedding in a very short amount of time. "But we'll certainly consider it when we start planning."

"I'm pleased for you Haymitch." Johanna said, shaking his hand which he felt far more comfortable with than he would have done if she tried to hug him. "Can I be best woman again?"

"Of course. But Effie will almost definitely make you wear another dress." he warned her.

"As long as it's more like the one she made for me yesterday than those crazy things she used to wear when she was an escort I promise not to complain too much." Haymitch didn't mention that he looked back quite fondly on most of the insane outfits that Effie had worn over the years as Johanna left and he wandered into the hallway deep in thought, needing air.

The one that stuck in his mind was the one she had worn to the final reaping with the neck made of ornamental butterflies that all seemed so fragile, yet somehow stronger than her. He remembered how her voice had broken when she read Katniss's name even though it was an inevitability and how relieved she had been when she read his which had hurt at the time until she admitted to him later on the train that she knew Peeta would volunteer to go in his stead because she had managed to phone Katniss to check how they all were and she had relinquished the details of their plan when Effie pressed her and how she couldn't even feel guilty for the relief she felt.

"I've known you so long, Haymitch." she had said quietly as they had sat together that evening. He remembered he had been sober and how bitter that had felt back then. "And I know you would never admit it, but we are friends and to think of you in there…" She sighed very deeply. "I thought about lying if I took Peeta's name out. Would anyone check? Anyway, I didn't have to do it because it was your name anyway." He wondered then and still did now if she was lying about that, if she had actually gone ahead with her plan and gotten away with it. He would never ask her.

"Jesus, Eff, why would you…"

"I couldn't send you back there. I watched you in the games when I was a child. I've seen how you drink to try to forget it, and I've heard you shouting at night anyway. I would rather they sent me to prison for lying about it than not try at all because you may very well be my best friend as appalling as that thought is and I will not be the one responsible for your death or if you did manage to live then I would not be the one responsible for causing new pain on top of what you already go through." In all the time Haymitch had known her had had never realised she could be so strong. He knew that it was hard for her to read out the names of doomed children but in the end she was never going to be the one who died because of that, no matter how guilty she felt. This time she actually might have died and she had still kept herself together on that stage, managed to sound like her normal self, and he knew she was stronger than him because he never would have been able to do that.

He had wanted to tell her about District 13 that night but he hadn't, needing to keep her ignorant in case she was caught up in the forthcoming. He fully planned on getting her out of the Capitol because she was right, they were friends in their own odd way and he never would have been able to live with himself leaving her behind. Looking back on it now he wondered if he was in love with her even then and just hadn't realised it.

"Haymitch?" Effie's soft voice broke him out of the memory and he quickly pulled her into a tight embrace which she happily welcomed.

"I love you." he whispered quietly into her hair and she sighed contentedly. He didn't say it all that often, neither of them did, because they both knew very well how the other felt and it didn't need to be said when it could so easily be felt, but remembering what he did then he knew he had to say it, had to make sure it was as clear in her mind in that moment as it was in his.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked him, and he wanted to reply nothing, didn't want to worry her, but her expression was one that demanded an answer while still managing to be soft and sweet and it was genuinely incredible to him.

"That train ride after the last reaping." She knew instantly the conversation he meant and smiled.

"That's so odd. I was just thinking about the night before the last games yesterday because before her interview I said to Katniss 'you would have been the most beautiful bride' thinking that she wouldn't live to become it, and there we were, watching her, and she truly was. It's how I knew she wouldn't want to wear white, because that was poisoned for her by how Snow forced her to wear it that night and then beat Cinna in front of her for it." Effie shook her head as though, despite all she had seen, that was the one act of brutality that haunted her the most. Haymitch sympathised, he knew she had been very fond of Cinna and she had been devastated to learn of his death.

"He would have been so impressed by what you made, Effie." She smiled.

"I do hope so. Now, would you like to come and eat with us or should I make your excuses so you can go home."

"I'm fine sweetheart, don't worry about me." He leant in to give her a quick, tender kiss before he took her hand to take her into the next room. They had fallen well into the pattern of a couple that completely doted on each other, that never stopped glancing at each other or sharing looks, the meanings of which could never be fully understood by anyone else and Haymitch was deliriously pleased that he had found someone he could love so much without her being in danger because of it. Haymitch had lost so much over the years but he was absolutely determined that Effie would not be added to that list.


	13. Chapter 13

The guests all went home a week and a half after the wedding, and Effie wished they were all staying longer, especially Annie. She would miss sitting out in the garden with her while Haymitch helped her son to feed the geese. She already knew Haymitch was going to be heartbroken saying goodbye to the little boy – it warmed Effie's heart to see how much he had bonded with him.

"I was worried when you said you were staying here." Annie told her as they sat out on the front steps. The steps were her favourite place, she liked being outdoors and they were the site of a very happy memory. It was a cold morning but the pair had mugs of tea in hand to warm them up and they were both quite used to it by now. "But I really think you've taken it in your stride, you seem so happy being here." Effie nodded in agreement. She still looked very out of place in District 12 with her bright colours – today was a turquoise dress with a hooped skirt that went down to her knees – but she didn't mind that at all. Katniss several days ago had suggested she get a pair of shoes for walking here without heels which had horrified her. She was determined to keep wearing exactly what she liked which happened to be a slightly toned down version of her Capitol self.

"I like it much better here than I thought I would." Effie admitted. She liked the air here more than in the Capitol, she liked the woods, she liked being around Katniss and Peeta and getting to be a mother and a friend to both of them, and of course, Haymitch was here, which meant that even if she liked nothing else about it she would have stayed there. Effie looked over to where he was pretending to be too slow to outrun Annie's son and smiled. She kept wondering when he was going to pluck up the courage to ask her if she wanted a child. If he was putting off asking her because he was worried she would say no then he was worried about nothing. Effie had always been fairly indifferent towards children but motherhood was beginning to feel quite appealing to her. She wasn't sure she'd be much good at it – in fact she was sure that she wouldn't be, but Haymitch would likely make up for that. He seemed like he would be naturally very good at being a father.

"So do I actually." Annie said. "I wish we were staying a little longer."

"Well you'll have to visit again, and I would love a trip to District 4 to see you again, I think Haymitch is quite tempted by the idea."

"Get him down there and convince him that you should have your wedding there, it would be absolutely lovely, you could have it on the beach, it would be absolutely beautiful." Annie assured her. Effie was very tempted by the idea but she was determined not to make concrete plans yet, she had promised Haymitch that she would take some time for herself before launching into planning another stressful event. He wanted her to get settled in District 12 before they were married and she thought that was very sweet of him because he was eager to get married. She was still in genuine disbelief that they were getting married. If she could travel back and tell Haymitch when she first met him that he would be marrying her she would, the reaction would be utterly priceless.

"We should probably head down to the train station now." Haymitch said as he walked over, carrying the little boy on his shoulders. He sounded regretful about it and Effie squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"I'll just run over and get my suitcase and the others." Annie told them both, waving at her son even though she was only leaving for a minute and hurrying across the road, letting herself into Katniss's house.

"I wish they all lived here." Effie said with a sigh.

"Me too actually." Haymitch agreed with her.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day that you were wishing more people were around that you had to interact with."

"Effie, I live with the human version of a hurricane that swirls around at a million miles per hours and is made entirely of colours and constant talking – who I of course love very much." he added quickly when he saw that she was glaring at him. "A few more people around wouldn't make much difference."

"And I'm sure they'd make a nice change from the human hurricane!" Effie huffed, although the smile she wore was enough to let him know that she wasn't really offended. She didn't take anything he said to heart these days, what he said was never intended as cruel. She had known him long enough to learn to ignore him most of the time, the one fight they'd had after she arrived was the last one they'd engaged in, and Effie hoped it would be the only one they ever had like that.

"Well, yes." Effie swatted him on the arm and Annie's son giggled. "At least the children will still be here."

"Katniss and Peeta? Yes, of course that's much better than no-one."

"I was referring to the geese, Eff."

"The geese are not our children, Haymitch!" she shrieked at the accusation.

"Until we have a real one I'm allowed to call them that." Effie was impressed by how sneakily he had managed to slip that in to their conversation, because she would either have to go along with it or say that real children weren't something she was interested in.

"And I will tell our poor future children that before they came along their father called the geese that and they will be very upset that you every thought there could be a comparison between them and those vicious creatures." Effie told him and he grinned seeming assured for now that she was at least amicable to the idea. In the future they would have to discuss it properly of course but hopefully this was enough to placate him for a while.

The others came out of the house and Effie thought it was very sad to see them all with their bags. Haymitch carried Annie's son the whole way to the train station. He said goodbye to everyone else with the little boy still on his shoulder and only when they were seconds away from getting on the train did he let him down and hug him tightly.

"Bye Fie! Bye Goose!" he called back to them, waving as he clutched his mother's hand and toddled onto the train. The pair stood side by side and waved until the train had left the station.

"I don't fancy going home." Effie announced as they finally made their way out of the station. "Would you like to come for a walk with me? I just fancy going through the forest for an hour or so, I'm happy to go alone."

"No, I'll come, you're going to break your ankle in those heels one day and I'd rather I was around when you do it. To laugh at you of course, not to help."

"Of course."

They walked hand in hand. Occasionally one of them spoke, usually Effie, but mostly they were content to walk in silence, just comfortable in each other's company and Effie knew she would be pleased to stay like this for the remainder of her life happy, peaceful, and by the side of the man she loved.

* * *

I've decided this is where I will be ending this fic because it seemed like a natural stopping point since things were slowing down. The first part of the sequel is already up titled Wilder Mind. I don't intend to write a third part unless it's a prequel but then again I said this was going to be a two chapter story so who knows where this will go. Thank you again for all the sweet comments, I'm so glad you've enjoyed this and I hope you enjoy the next one just as much!


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